Changelings
Changelings are subtle shapeshifters capable of disguising their appearance. They evolved through the union of doppelgangers and humans, eventually becoming a separate race distinct from either ancestor. History In the beginning, when the great races of Kerectus started being created, the gods decided over the creation of a species capable of shapeshifting, a unique trait to posess that was not present up to that day. Although the purpose of the creation of such creatures is still unkown to the public, it is rumored that it was to counter the solid logic that was starting to rule above the world, by the courtesy of humen. Therefore, Doppelgangers came up, being a new race possesing new traits. By given the delusional ability to shapeshift into any other humanoid they saw, doppelgangers used their skills to blend with the societies, and perform their acts by striking with precise moves in the disguise of someone else. Due to them using their abilities for sinister reasons, doppelgangers developed a negative reputation among the creatures of Kerectus for exploiting their abilities to disguise as powerful world shakers, and use their status to cause social disturbances. This was the reason they were designed for - to balance the square logic with the unexpected events, so the people had something to be concerned with instead about how to keep getting better, something to be afraid of. Eventually though, doppelgangers ended up getting mixed with the local societies by uniting with sexual partners of other species. From those bonds, hybrid shapeshifters were created, among them being Changelings. Changelings were the race to manage to survive the most and become the most influental race among other shapeshifter hybrids, making up for an entire new race separated from the rest. Doppelgangers, being unable to cope up with the speed their race has dwindled into other secondary sub races, disappeared from Kerectus a few years later, leaving the path clear for changelings to fully replace them, and become the dominant shapeshifting race. Changelings, although no doppelgangers anymore still retained their ancestral attributes, making them yet another evil race to the eyes of people. Generally, they were more social and friendlier than their ancestors, but the bad reputation around them would never allow them to settle by establishing nations of their own. So, they remained a nomad race, mostly travelling in groups around the world, before establishing in a desired society and living there the rest of their lives in disguises. There are no important events that happened in the changeling history as they had never have their very own culture. Although it is rumored that many influental people that took part in huge importance historical events were changelings... it could be true. Race Traits Changelings usually stand at 5' 2" - 7' 1", in average statistics. They are genderless - in contrast with other races of Kerectus, changelings don't have genders to identify as, rather they adapt the gender of the person they disguise into. However, all changelings have two more forms, that they posess since birth. The one appears to be what we define as a male. Strong body features, big muscle mass, strong jawlines, tall height. The other one is a female looking appearance, featuring the normal feminine characteristics. Small body frame, fat disposal at waist and chest, fragile, delicate. All changelings have these two forms, which are their human legacy. Still though, they do not define their gender. These are the only appearances they can alter at will, they develop them since the age they were born. Due to that, a changeling in a specific form, either male or female, tends to be an extremely handsome man or beautiful woman, as they develop their appearances to fit the social criteria of the society they adapt in. Changelings almost never move around in their normal forms. People do not approve changelings due to their history and abilities that most take for sinister, and hunt them down to eliminate them whenever they can. Therefore, they are forced to stay in disguise to move around. Whenever they are not disguised, they can change to either of their changeling forms at will, and back into an assumed disguise if they wish to. In normal forms, their characteristics are quite inhuman - their skin colours usually are pale or light grey, their eyes are somewhat bigger thn human ones and pitch black, jet black, or carbon grey. Their haircolour matches their skin colours, often being pale white, silver, or light gold. Most facial features that makes them recognizable are absent, for that reason normal people cannot distinguish them among others. Further race details, as they appear in MafiaDog's character sheet under the "Species" entry: "Changelings can only shapeshift into other humanoid forms of the same size (human size, in contrast with shapeshifters that can take up any size and appearance). People their appearances adapt are called disguises. They can swap any of their already possesed disguises at will. In order to memorize a new disguise to assume in the future, they need to spend a couple of moments with the desired person so they can learn and memorize their appearance. Changelings cannot create appearances out of thin air, they have to be disguises of existing people, but they can keep these disguises after the person has passed away. Whenever they assume the appearance of another person or creature, they also assume their gender, therefore they have no specific gender to go by, as they can be both males and live male lives, join the army, be strong and masculine, and females, be more delicate, beautiful, and even have babies, if they decide to adapt the feminine gender for more than 9 months. In their original form, they are genderless. If they decide to reproduce, they can only do so with a race that can reproduce, but their babies regardless of the parent's gender and race are always changelings and genderless, they use the DNA of the other parent more as a map chart of genes instead of the definition of their race. Changelings however do not gain the abilities of the person they shapeshift into, for instance, if they shapeshift into a vampire they won't need to feed on blood, rather they would keep on eating like they usually do. They live three times longer than humen, and by the age of eight, their abilities have fully grown and can adapt the appearance of any humanoid regardless of age. When they age their physical characteristics don't change, they retain their appearance in their entire life in contrast with humen, whose bodies age. Changelings, as a race, don't have a culture or home to call their own. They live in the shadows, hiding their race identity to the public, usually by assuming the disguise of a person they know, and tend to keep it for a long time, so they can adapt to the local community. People hate changelings. They believe that they are demons sent from the deepest pits of hell to cause chaos and social collapse by using their abilities to assume form of powerful world shakers and control them at their will. Changelings are very few in number, and live among the rest of the world trying to conceal what they truly are. They usually adapt the role of a person and use his disguise for a life. Or, if not for a life, for a long period of time. Of course there are changelings that use their abilities for other reasons. These changelings usually work as actors, spies, or assasins. Changelings, in contrast with shapeshifters, can only assume the body and the appearance of a person, and not their possesings, clothes, or any other objects they might be carrying, therefore changelings that swap disguises often usually go around with confortable, unisex clothes that seem to fit in all bodies, of either shape or gender. Since such clothes are very hard to find nowadays, they usually make them themselves. If they carry any gear, they position it carefully so it doesn't fall or make them feel uncomfortable while wearing specific disguises. Changelings can shapeshift back into their original form in any second, which form's traits they can alter at will." Abilities Upon birth, all changelings have the ability to shapeshift into their two ancestral forms - male and female. Throughout their childhood they can customize their appearances at will, selecting and adapting body traits that they prefer the most. It is not unusual to see changelings that boast features of many different races, all depending on the societies they grow in, therefore changelings raised among humen tend to select humen traits to apply on their forms. These two forms are permanent, and cannot be discarded by them. Upon reaching the age of eight, their shapeshifting abilities have fully grown, and usually by that age, they are ready to adapt the appearance of other humanoids and disguise into them. To learn a disguise, the changeling has to spend a couple of minutes observing the target disguise, including listening to their voice, so they can shapeshift into matching disguises, bearing the same body features and proportions. Upon changing into a disguise, changelings also adapt the disguise's gender. This is the only way they can reproduce their species. The changeling parent has to remain into the "receiving" gender disguise (in humen, woman) for a full nine month interval, until the baby is ready to be born. It is possible for two changelings disguised into two different genders to reproduce with one another, in which case, a changeling with both parental traits is born. As stated earlier though, due to their ability to change these features at will, most changeling children pick other distinctive marks to set them apart from their parents. In addition, being a shapeshifting race, changelings have the ability to identify other shapechanging creatures and call whether they are under disguise or not. Variations Chameleons Chameleons are changelings that bear stronger attributes to their ancestors, doppelgangers, than others. They usually are the result of two changeling partners bonding together into two different gender disguises, ending up controlling the shape shifting ability easier. They have slightly more characteristics variations, and usually feature by default darker tone skin and hair colour, usually coal gray or toned gray. Category:Races